"No Doubt" About It

Aaaaand we're back!
So...this weekend proved to be expensive...but truly, without a shadow of a doubt, worth the expense.
As I said in my last post, John's birthday is coming up. My early present to him was tickets to see No Doubt, one of his ALL TIME favorite bands, in Charlotte, 5 hours away. We took off Friday afternoon and arrived around 8pm in Charlotte and checked into our hotel. At that point, I couldn't handle it anymore. I HAD to tell him. I hemmed and hawed about it and finally asked him if he cared if I told him early. He said he didn't mind as long as I wouldn't regret it. So I pulled out his birthday card (fully musical with "Mr. Roboto"...we have a thing with robots...) and made him read it before reading what was on the tickets enclosed. He had guessed a few minutes before I decided to tell him that his surprise was tickets to see Dave Matthews. He guessed this because of two reasons: I had hinted on our way over to Charlotte (all of which I drove...I'm so proud of myself) that we were doing something we had talked about quite a bit recently. He thought back and remembered us talking about going to a Dave Matthews concert in Washington. He also thought it was a concert because he saw the sign for the Amphitheatre on our way into Charlotte. Back to the card. He read the card and opened the ticket. His initial reaction was ecstatic...but I could tell he hadn't really figured out what concert he was going to. He was just stoked to be going to a concert. Especially at an amphitheatre. Then he focused on the two little words that mattered: 'No Doubt.' His face literally LIT UP and I swear I've never seem him so excited. It far surpassed my hopes of how excited he'd be. After that he couldn't stop giggling and smiling. He said "This is WAY better than going to Dave Matthews" even though he loves Dave Matthews. We went out for Sushi for dinner and then hit the sac. The next morning we got up and went out for a late breakfast at The Original Pancake House which was great. I feel like I haven't gone out to a diner for breakfast in awhile...and although this place wasn't a diner, it gave a diner feel which we both dig. After breakfast, we walked around Charlotte and went in search of an Art-o-mat machine. I was disappointed to find the Public Library no longer had a machine...but we still had fun wandering around Charlotte, watching street performers at a local street fair and then we headed out. We stopped at a Hobby Lobby and spent more time than we should have getting art supplies (thank you again...) and finally made it back to the hotel. We had a reservation-date at The Melting Pot at 4pm. We changed quickly and headed over. Neither of us had been before and it was definitely the eating experience. The place is extremely dimly lit...giving it a very romantic ambiance. Our waitress was awesome with suggestions and we had the full experience with cheese fondue, broth fondue, and then chocolate fondue. It was amazing. GO if you ever have the chance. But go hungry. Afterward, we headed back to the hotel and changed into concert-worthy attire and hit the road to the Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre. Traffic sucked (as is normal for concerts) but we got there pretty quickly considering and found parking quickly and started walking over. Aside from being hit in the neck by some people playing cornhole (thankfully they were kids and didn't see me coming...what can I say...I'm cunning and swift) and waiting in line for the ladies room FOR-E-VER, we got to our seats considerably quickly and had to sit back and marvel at the view. I have to say I got pretty darn good seats considering the vast size of the place. John was tickled pink and neither of us could keep from smiling. The two opening bands were the Sounds (a Swedish band I discovered on myspace about a year ago) and Paramore, both of which did an awesome performance...but who can really compete with No Doubt? That's what I thought.
As the evening progressed, the seats slowly filled up. And the anticipation was thick in the air.
As they changed the set after Paramore for No Doubt, you could text messages to display on the two huge screens. Mine never posted but I think I posted it too late. A big screen blocked our view from what was happening back stage but John predicted the screen should drop and No Doubt would be behind it. And he was right! Shortly, the screen illuminated and the four figures appeared and the crowd went crazy as did we. I can't even describe how awesome it was. But it was awesome. The show was very futuristic-y and sweet. Gwen and crew looked great and Gwen had three costume changes. They started with 'Spiderwebs' and ended the show with 'Rock Steady.' There were so many great moments, it's hard to choose a favorite...but if I had to choose...these would be the highlights: Gwen doing push-ups during the intro of 'I'm Just A Girl,' Gwen directing the guys in the audience in singing 'I'm Just A Girl,' when she looked DIRECTLY at us, Gwen hiding during her introduction, when she screamed 'Jealous...jealous...JEALOOOOUS!!!!!!!" during 'Ex-Girlfriend,' again during 'Bathwater' when Gwen stated "Why do the good girls always go for...the smelly, terrible, stinky, naughty, bad boys??" I could keep going but I'll keep the rest secret in case you feel like going to see them in concert. Which you should.